UFC News - Page 995

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder Sean Sherk was released from active suspension in California on Monday after meeting all of the requirements as outlined by the California State Athletic Commission.

Another solid addition has been confirmed for The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale, which takes place June 21 in Las Vegas.
UFC lightweights Spencer Fisher (20-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Jeremy "Lil' Heathen" Stephens (13-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) have agreed to meet at the Spike TV-televised event, which caps off the current season of "The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest."

IMO i think i'd be better to fight other fighters to see how they match up in the division, having 2 TUF fighter from the same season fighting doesnt make sense to me. Unless they want to get rid off J-rock, afterall the UFC did say they have too many fighters under contract

“If he [Kimbo] fought anybody that mattered, I would book [Chuck Liddell] tomorrow…. The fact is, Kimbo’s not there yet. He would get destroyed. I heard he just got knocked out by Forrest Griffin last week in a sparring match after a kick to the head.”
chuck would own kimbo, the most overhyped fighter in the history of combat sports. imo james thompson is going to beat him.

Travis "The Serial Killer" Lutter heads into the Ultimate Fighting Championship octagon this weekend against Rich "Ace" Franklin confident and eager to get one step closer to a rematch with UFC middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva.

It’s easy to be jealous of Georges St-Pierre. In a land full of smashed noses, scar tissue, and missing teeth, he’s old Hollywood in style and demeanor. His effortless grace also translates to his day job, where he’s seemingly the one who always gets things right the first time, with his repeated drilling only to benefit muscle memory, not the search for a perfection in execution he’s apparently reached already.
That’s why your girlfriend or wife, who can’t recall any fighters not named Chuck Liddell, knows who St-Pierre is; it’s why your nephews, who haven’t been up to speed on fighting since Mike Tyson was wrecking the heavyweight division, will throw out a sidekick and blurt “GSP baby”; and why 22,000 people will be packing the Bell Centre in Montreal for St-Pierre’s challenge of UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra this Saturday.

"Ever notice that when a stellar collegiate wrestling star makes his transition into mixed martial arts, striking is never an issue in those formative months of development?
Learning jiu-jitsu can be a frustrating chore, figuring out that what worked on the wrestling mat may not work in the Octagon can be equally baffling, but when it comes to punching, elbowing, and kicking, that’s like being a kid who wakes up on his birthday and finds out he got a snow day off from school as well.
Heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez most certainly agrees."...

.“… I’m 44 and looking at the end of my career. I want to fight the best guy in the world and be considered the best guy as well. That fight is the only way that will happen. It doesn’t make sense – the UFC is criticizing me for not fighting (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira, and I have a lot of respect for Nogueira. I think he’s a great fighter, but he’s been beat by Fedor twice. That fight doesn’t make sense for me right now. If I have more fights left in me after Fedor, maybe I’ll fight Nogueira then, but right now, it just doesn’t make sense.”

Embattled UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture — who still holds that designation because of legal reasons — shares his thoughts on a fight with interim UFC heavyweight champion, (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira. “Minotauro” called out “The Natural” after he defeated Tim Sylvia to earn the vacated belt; however, it appears that Couture (for now) is hellbent on fighting one fighter and one fighter only, Fedor Emelianenko.

In a new interview with PunchDrunkGamer.com, free agent fighter Hermes Franca not only expressed an interest in a rematch with former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk, but also a fight against the current UFC lightweight champion, B.J. Penn:

Jake O'Brien (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC), a 23-year-old heavyweight who suffered his first professional loss to Andrei Arlovski in March, has been released from the UFC and has agreed to a two-fight deal with the Palace Fighting Championship.
According to Pavia, O'Brien had recently signed a new contract with the UFC and had two fights remaining on the deal.
"Yes, you could say we were surprised by the UFC's decision," Pavia said
"Jake really wanted that fight at UFC 82," Pavia said. "However, had we known that his tenure with the organization was at risk when we were presented with the Arlovski fight, we may have approached it differently."

When Zuffa - the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship - purchased and subsequently dismantled Pride Fighting Championship in 2007, MMA fans worldwide expected that majority of the best fighters in the world will be consolidated under the UFC banner. So far, the results have been decidedly mixed. While three out of five UFC title belts are held by former Pride FC fighters, the heavyweight division is still as much in shambles as it was two years ago, and a number of middleweight (185 lbs) contenders are scattered throughout various organizations. In the lightweight division, Marcus Aurelio is the only Pride competitor who has stepped inside the UFC Octagon to date.
The only place where Zuffa had an undeniable success of consolidating the top talent is MMA’s marquee division - the light heavyweights (205 lbs). Not only is UFC the home to the undisputed champion of the world at 205, they also employ all of the Top 5, 9 of the Top 10, and 14 of the Top 20 LHW fighters...
...

Anderson Silva has run a gauntlet through some of the best middleweight mixed martial arts in the world in the past 23 months.
He obliterated the iron-chinned Chris Leben. He twice pulverized the marvelously well-rounded Rich Franklin. He overwhelmed Nate Marquardt, a man many believed had the style to defeat him.

After posting his fourth straight submission victory in the UFC at UFC Fight Night 13, lightweight Nate Diaz (9-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has been mentioned as a possible opponent for many of the division's top contenders. Diaz, however, is only interested in one of them: former cast mate Manny Gamburyan (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC).
"The UFC decides that for me," Diaz said regarding his next opponent. "Manny (Gamburyan) wants to fight me. But you know what? I want to fight him too just as much."
"I don't like them," Diaz said bluntly. "I don't mean nothing bad to anyone else in the sport. Everybody's just trying to make their money and fight their fights and do their thing, just like I am. But those guys? F*** them. They're cocky, they talk s***, and they want to act tough. But when they're by themselves, they try to say 'What's up,' you know... I'm like, 'We're not friends, dude.'"

"Hopefully within the next 2 or 3 months. I'm keeping my weight down low right now. I honestly want to be on that Rampage and Forrest card on July 5th," stated UFC welterweight contender Anthony Johnson as he talked about his future plans after his impressive knockout victory over Tommy Speer during UFC Fight Night 13. You don't want to miss what he had to say about his performance, his future plans and much more as he promises "whenever the UFC calls me man, I'll be ready for an opportunity to shine again." Check it out!

UFC lightweights Tyson Griffin (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Marcus Aurelio (16-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will meet at UFC 86, an event that takes place July 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
The fight, which will likely appear on the televised portion of the pay-per-view event, was first reported by MMAWeekly.com.

Matt Serra still has no love for Georges St. Pierre going into UFC 83, and now he's trying to show he also has no love for the Montreal crowd, which will be heavily pro-GSP in their UFC Welterweight Title fight. He even told the "drunks" to boo him.

Although UFC has nixed any chances of a boxing match between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr. anytime soon, Silva still is confident the fight will happen. Silva says the fight is "my huge personal wish".

Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk will be required to undergo additional drug testing prior to his showdown with reigning 155-pound kingpin, BJ Penn, at UFC 84: “Ill Will” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 24, according to MMAPredictions.com.
It looks like they are making an example out of Sherk. I wonder if some of the other fighters who tested positive in the past had to do the same?